Extraction of copper and nickel, particularly from low-grade ores and products.



w. Romans & HfPEDERSEN.

EXTRACTION 0F COPPER AND NICKEL, PARTICULARLY PROM LOW GRADE ORES AND nobnuwsf APPLIUATION FILED JUNE 5, 1912.

1,101, 1 15. Pateflted June 23,1914.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILHELM BORCHERS, ornacnnn, GERMANY, AND 'HAaALn rnnncasnn, or

' TnoNn-Hmrr, NORWAY.

EXTRACTION OF COPPER AND NICKEL, PARTICULARLY FROM LOW-GRADE ORES ANiD PRODUCTS.

Application filed June 5, 1912.

Serial No. 701,859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Dr. WILHELM BORCHERS, professor, a subject of-the German Emperor, and resident of'15 Ludwigsallee, Aachen, Germany, and HARALD PHE- DERSEN, engineer, a subject of the King of Norway, and resident of TrOndh em, Norway, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Extraction of Copper and Nickel, Particularly from Low-Grade Ores and Products; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

This invention relates to the process described in our prior Letters Patent No. 1,043,291 of November 5th 1912 for the extraction of nickel and copper from ores or byproducts containing the sulfids of these metals together with iron and copper by a combination of smelting, roasting, leaching and precipitating operations. It has now been found that this process can be appreciably simplified in its latter stages.

The present improved process is carried out in the following manner and as diagrammatically represented in the accompanying drawing:

The first operations 1. Smelting the ore,

2. Roasting to sulfates,

3. Leaching with acidulated water,

4. Utilizing the leaching residue in the ore smelting operation, remain as described in the specification of the said prior patent. The working principle of the main process, of first extracting the copper and nickel together from the ore, in a solution, thus remains as before. The succeeding stages are, however, varied as follows.

5. From the lye obtained from operation 3, the copper alone is precipitated as sulfid by means of sulfureted hydrogen; this lattercan be obtained from a portion .of the crude matte bymeans sulfuric acid.

6. The copper sulfid obtained in this way 1s filtered, dried and then converted by any known method into metallic copper or cop- I per vitriol (blue vitriol), for instance by smelting it with copper oxid 7 The nickel sulfate solution is evaporated and allowed to cool and crystallize, yielding nickel sulfate and a mother liquor, which latter may be utilized in the leaching operation 3 or returned to the roasting operation 2.

8. The nickel sulfate obtained from operation 7 is completely dried androasted until it decomposes into nickel oxid, sulfuric acid, and sulfur trioxid, which two latter may be returned to the roasting operation 2.

9. The nickel oxid obtained by the operation 8 is reduced to metallic nickel by smelting in the known manner, viz., by reduction with carbon and carbon monoxid in crucible, mufile, or electric-furnaces:

The simplification of the process will become even clearer on comparing the follow,-

'ing tabulation with the similar summarizing of the main process. By splitt-in up the nickel sulfate into protoxid, sul uric (sodium sulfid), the addition of the limestone flux, and the formation of a waste Patented J une 23, 1914p product (gypsumg are, however, evo

are avoided. Acid gases crease the yield of sulfuric acid from this ved, which accelerate the operation if it be desired to treat the waste roasting operation 2, but which, however, in-

gases for the manufacture of sulfuric acid.

Synopsis of the improved process.

Ore

smelted with limestone or leaching residue in the electric furnace.

l \l Crude matte Roasting to sulfates, leaching,

Linking residue consisting of iron oxid and undecompose'd nickel and copper sulfid.

Final products.-

Slag for making into partly treated with building material.

sulfuric acid.

Sulfureted hydrogen.

Solillion containing the gre atest part of the nickel and copper in the form of F (F) sulfates.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is 1. The process for extracting nickel and copper from ores and the like containing' v nickel from sulfate solutions of the same,

which comprises precipitatin the copper from said solution with by rogen sulfid, separating the copper sulfid and reducing the same to metallic copper, evaporating the residual nickel sulfate solution, heatprecipitated with sulfureted hydrogen.

-L 4 Solution sulfid of copper containing nickel sulfate. reduced to is evaporated and allowed to coo Copper.

I l t Mother liquor (lye) Nickel sulfate containilg NiSOi and is dried and calcined.

2304 I Nickel prolon'd is smelted with carbon.

I Nickel.

ing the residual nickel sulfate to convert the same into nickel oxid, and reducing said nickel oxid to metallic nickel.

3. The process for the extraction of nickel and copper from ores and the like containing sulfids which comprises formin from the said ores a solution of the sul ates of nickel and copper, precipitating and separating the copper as sulfid from the solution by means of sulfureted hydrogen, evaporating the nickel sulfate solution, roasting the resultant nickel sulfate to convert the the nickel oxid to reduce the same to metallic nickel.

signatures, in presence of witnesses. I

DR. WILHELM BOROHERS. 1 HARALD PED-ERSEN. Witnesses:

KARL BOONEMANN,

KARL VVAGENMANN,

JOHN SKREDDER,

J ENS JENSEN.

same into nickel oXid, and finally smelting In testimony whereof we have afixed our 

